>From the
"Make up your Mind Department" come two articles recently
published in computer trade magazines. In the Special Millennium
Issue of KM World magazine is an article titled, "Death of
the call center?" where the un-named author quotes Dan Plashkes,
E-assist CEO (www.e-assist.net) as saying, due to the rise in
e-business, "We're going to see a tremendous migration from
a call center to a (knowledgebase) Web center. The call center
is going away; the economics don't make sense."He goes on
to state that at $20 to $50 per call, the call center is not the
way you should handle customers on the Web.
At the same time, the January/ February issue of Beyond Computing
magazine published an article by Pamela Houghtaling called, "Call
Centers Take Center Stage." Ms. Houghtaling postures that
call centers will need to rethink their role, but will become
increasingly important with e-business. She quotes Robert Miriani,
research director with the Yankee Group consulting operation,
"Traditionally, they've (call centers) been very focused
on efficiency rather than effectiveness. Instead, companies should
view the call center in terms of a customer's overall portfolio
of experiences." Read the articles and let us know what YOU
think. E-mail your responses to lcbiz@seasurf.com.
> E-business Trekkie Style: Actor Leonard Nimoy is now hosting a 30-minute television series for business information and technology. Partnering with Beyond Computing, Business Finance and Wireless Week, among others, each episode is touted to include panel discussions with executives from high-profile companies shaping the digital marketplace. Check the website: www.nextwave.com.
> The Clatsop County Board of Commissioners is seeking volunteers to serve on a charter review committee. The committee has been established by the board to review the County's eleven-year-old charter and suggest any changes that might improve the operation of government in Clatsop County. The committee will be composed of two members of the original panel that wrote the current charter, two lawyers with municipal law experience and five citizens - one from each commissioner district. County Commission chair George Kiepke is encouraging anyone who is interested in serving on the committee to contact the Clatsop County Manager's Office at 503/325-1000.
>The Winter
2000 issue of the University of Phoenix Future magazine provides
the following news bit about on-line shoppers. "Do people
really want to shop online? According to the recent America Online/Roper
Starch 'Cyberstudy,' more consumers are going into virtual shopping
malls than ever before. From 1998 to 1999, the percentage of online
shoppers jumped from 31 to 42 percent. The study also discovered
that 37 percent of all consumers say they will increase their
number of online purchases. Other online research has indicated
the following:
"35 percent of online shoppers would buy more if they could
interact in real-time with a salesperson. (NFO Interactive Data)
"40 percent of U.S. Households with Internet access control
60 percent of the nation's buying power. (Greenfield Online)
"$11 billion in online catalog sales is expected for 1999,
up from $5.9 billion in 1998 (Direct Marketing Association.)"
> The 1999 Legislature made many changes in State Elections Laws to allow County Clerks to move electors who had not voted in five or more years to an inactive status. The law change will help election officials keep voter registration files accurately updated and could be particularly important for money measures requiring a 50% turnout. Previously, County Clerks could only consider electors inactive if evidence was received that there had been a change in an elector's registration information and/or the elector has not voted in the last two general elections. Clatsop County elections officials completed the audit of voter activity and plan to move the affected electors to inactive status in time for the May 16, 2000 election. For more information, contact Nicole Williams or Debra Kraske, Co-acting county clerks at 503/325-8511.
>The City of Manzanita will conduct a public meeting, Thursday, February 10 at 7pm in the city council chambers. The topic will be changes in the rules for setbacks, building height, and side yard determination. Changes under scrutiny include eliminating setback averaging and using wall height to determine side yards and more.
> The Clatsop County Board of Commissioners is seeking volunteers to fill vacancies on several committees, as follows: several on the Commission on Children and Families; two on the Recreation Lands Planning Advisory Committee; one on the Clatsop County Budget Committee, at least three spread throughout the Human Services Advisory Committee's three councils; and one on the Public Safety Coordinating Council For more information, or to prepare an application, please contact Melanie Spurgeon in the Clatsop County Manager's Office, 503/325-1000 before February 10.
> The International Electronic Cinema Festival will be held at the Portland Hilton Hotel May 15-19, 2000. The festival is dedicated to showcasing work in digital television and digital cinema production, bringing diverse industry players together to tackle the creative and content issues of high-definition television, new forms of digital television and high-resolution electronic cinema, as well as the business models to support these new productions. Similar forums have been held in Montreux, Switzerland and Chiba, Japan since 1987. For more information, call 503/697-4901 or e-mail info@iecf.org.
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